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1, 2, 3, 4: GET YOUR REPRESENTATIVE ON THE FLOOR — The House is scheduled to vote today on a measure that would make significant changes to the regulatory process, including by requiring agencies to do more study on how their rules affect small businesses. The bill, from Texas Republican Lamar Smith, is billed by its supporters as a necessary measure to keep government regulations from hindering job creation, while critics say it crimps federal authority at the expense of public health and the environment. H.R. 527: http://1.usa.gov/uAH7o9.

MORE ON TAP: The House is also scheduled to vote this week — though not necessarily today — on a separate regulatory overhaul measure that would, among other things, push agencies to choose the least costly rule available, mandate cost-benefit analysis and allow more judicial review of agency actions. H.R. 3010: http://1.usa.gov/sxgvhd.

[EVEN] MORE ON TAP: And then there’s the “REINS” Act (H.R. 10), which would require Congress to sign off on any major regulation. That measure is before the House Rules Committee today, when panelists will review a handful of Republican and Democratic amendments, including a provision from Rep. Kurt Schrader that would exempt any rule that reduces the deficit. The bill could hit the House floor as soon as next week. House Rules meets at 3 p.m. in H-313 of the Capitol. For a list of amendments submitted to the panel: http://1.usa.gov/rGKJSH.

CLOSING STATEMENTS – Ahead of the votes, the bills’ critics and supporters alike are making eleventh-hour pleas. The BlueGreen Alliance of labor and environmental groups is urging members to vote down all three (their letter: http://bit.ly/sPCnF0), while a “who’s who” coalition sent a letter of its own (http://politico.pro/t0qKkI) Wednesday in support of H.R. 3010, saying it would improve the quality and transparency of agency rules.

THE BILL STOPS HERE — The White House has threatened to veto both H.R. 527 and H.R. 3010, and it is unlikely to be too keen on the REINS Act either.

HAPPY THURSDAY and welcome to Morning Energy, where your host wants to congratulate Bears quarterback Jay Cutler, who is once again engaged to reality TV star Kristin Cavallari. The pair were first engaged this spring, but they’ve been on hiatus since this summer when Cutler admitted he had lied to Cavallari when he claimed that he spends his Sunday afternoons under the guise of a secret superhuman alias named “Aaron Rodgers.”

Both members of the Jay Cutler Fan Club can reach ME to complain at preis@politico.com, but send tomorrow’s best energy news to Alex Guillén (aguillen@politico.com), as he’s under center on Fridays.

NEWT AND MITT — It is seemingly more style than substance that separates Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney on energy and environmental issues, but those style differences — observers say — have the potential to produce very different presidencies. Samuelsohn has the story for Pros: http://politico.pro/s5eeiM.

IN THE PIPELINE — House Republicans are drafting a bill that would take the final decision on the Keystone XL pipeline out of the hands of the White House and give it to FERC. The proposal will likely be released Friday. Goode has the story: http://politico.pro/rUQYYI.

IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME — That’s former Iowa Gov. Chet Culver’s theory on constructing a massive transmission line stretching across the Atlantic Ocean between New Jersey and Virginia. Culver — who works for the Atlantic Wind Connection transmission line — says once the project is in place, wind farms and jobs will follow, but the line still has to navigate a thicket of federal, regional and state regulators. Guillén caught up with Culver at the National Press Club on Wednesday: http://politico.pro/uIbVvT.

GOTTA GET DOWN ON FRIDAY — EPA will issue its boiler MACT rule for public comment on Friday, according to an agency spokeswoman.

DURBAN UPDATE — European Union negotiators say they see a window for compromise with China on a framework for a global climate pact, as the east Asian nation works to build a greener image and invest in alternative energy sources. The EU is pushing for countries to agree by 2015 on a treaty that would become binding in 2020. Bloomberg reports: http://bloom.bg/rKD5Cz.

PREFERENCE FOR A PINK SLIP? — Rep. Cliff Stearns says the House would vote right now to call on Energy Secretary Steven Chu to resign — if only lawmakers had the chance. Samuelsohn is on the case: http://politico.pro/s4wmV1.

** A message from America's Natural Gas Alliance: Want to learn more about hydraulic fracturing? Dig deeper into the process with our animation explaining how America’s vast supplies of clean natural gas are accessed. http://bit.ly/raW1Bd **

DOE BACKS EPA — Energy Department assistant secretary for policy David Sandalow and EPA air chief Gina McCarthy are holding a joint conference call a 1 p.m. today to announce the release of a DOE report showing that new EPA rules won’t create widespread electric grid reliability problems. DOE’s electric reliability chief Patricia Hoffman told FERC commissioners yesterday that the report would be available “soon” and described it as a "conservative 'stress test' scenario" deliberately more stringent than the new EPA rules. DOE will send out call information later today. Dixon has more on EPA and DOE: http://politico.pro/rO0UFK.

TALKING SOLYNDRA — Energy Department staffers briefed Secretary Steven Chu on Solyndra in June in preparation for a meeting with President Obama, according to an internal DOE email released Wednesday by House Republicans.

"Are you available to join me in briefing [Chu] at 9:30 — in advance of his mtg with POTUS,” a DOE loan guarantee official wrote in the June 27 email. The email notes several topics likely to come up with Obama. Some are redacted. But one isn’t: “Solyndra (current status — in light of yesterday's WashPo article).” DOE and White House officials wouldn’t say Wednesday whether the California solar company actually came up during Chu’s meeting with Obama.

CHEQUES AND BALANCES — Rep. Paul Ryan wants Herbert Allison, the official tasked with conducting an independent analysis of DOE’s loan portfolio, to change the way he calculates the loan program’s cost. Instead of using the interest rates applied to U.S. Treasury securities, Ryan wants Allison to calculate based on “market-based” risk premiums, which the representative says provides a more accurate cost assessment. Ryan’s letter to Allison: http://politico.pro/vyGYmb.

LIVE LONG AND PROSPER — Steven Chu says budget pressures are no reason to scrap the ARPA-E program, saying the energy research funding program has allies "on both sides of the aisle" who see its value. "I'd like to see it grow. This is R&D. It's in the sweet spot of the United States," Chu told The Boston Globe after speaking at MIT on Wednesday: http://bo.st/v8z51X.

ME FIRST: WIND ADVOCACY CAMPAIGN — A coalition of wind energy companies and renewable advocacy organizations (including the American Wind Energy Association) are launching a new website today intended to push Congress to extend the production tax credit — which is set to expire in 2012 — for four years. Uncertainty over the credit’s extension is making companies hesitant to put up turbines and is costing jobs, the groups say. The website: http://www.saveusawindjobs.com/.

PUERTO RICAN PIPELINE — The Army Corps of Engineers has found that the Via Verde natural gas pipeline would not have a significant environmental impact on the animals, people or environment in the path of the proposed pipeline, according to a draft environmental assessment released Wednesday. The pipeline, proposed by the Puerto Rican government to help lower electricity costs, would transport LNG 92 miles from the south of Puerto Rico to the northern part of the island, passing over more than 200 wetlands and rivers in the process. There will be a 30 day public comment period. The assessment: http://bit.ly/uupkhx.

GET YOUR ROLL ON — EPA and the Department of Transportation officially post their Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards and greenhouse gas emissions standards for model year 2017-2025 cards and light-duty trucks in the Federal Register today, launching a 60-day comment period. The agencies will also hold public meetings on Jan. 17 in Detroit, Jan. 19 in Philadelphia and Jan. 24 in San Francisco, at which the agencies will accept comments on the rulemakings and also on the environmental impact statement. Take a gander here: http://bit.ly/u8Sxmi.

WONK IS ‘KNOW’ SPELLED BACKWARD — Congrats to everyone who made it through the last day of the FERC technical conference about the electric reliability impacts of new and pending EPA rules. There was considerable discussion about streamlining response capabilities between FERC and others but most of the panelists held true to their well-established positions on whether they want more time to comply with any new regulations or if they’re doing just dandy. Given that the EPA rules — and their timing — are out of FERC's hands, FERC Chairman Jon Wellinghoff summarized the commission’s takeaway (minus Commissioner Philip Moeller) from the conference to reporters like this: “What I’m hearing is that the industry wants clarity. The best way to get clarity is to get an EPA rule out.”

LUMINANT: NO, WE’RE NOT OK WITH UTILITY MACT TIMELINE — Luminant wants the world to know it’s not satisfied with the timeframes in EPA’s pending utility MACT rule, despite comments from a company spokesman in a POLITICO story Tuesday (http://politico.pro/sqcdM7) that contrasted that rule with the agency’s upcoming Cross-State Air Pollution Rule.

The utility MACT’s proposed three-year compliance deadline is “different” from those of the CSAPR, which goes into effect Jan. 1 — but it’s still “inadequate,” Luminant spokesman Allan Koenig told POLITICO on Wednesday. In a statement (http://bit.ly/sXULkC) posted Wednesday on Luminant’s website, the company said it has “immediate, serious and very real concerns about MACT's strict compliance timeline and reliability impacts.”

WHAT DO GREENPEACE, THE NEVADA DAIRY COMMISSION AND JIM INHOFE HAVE IN COMMON? They’re all miffed over EPA's second iteration of the renewable fuels standard, and they all want the Senate Environment and Public Works panel to hold a hearing on it. The two groups signed onto a letter (http://politico.pro/sDIjcH) Wednesday asking EPW for a hearing on the issue. Inhofe, the panel’s top Republican, issued a statement saying: “RFS2 has done too much too fast and it has resulted in numerous adverse consumer impacts.”

TWO-MINUTE DRILL
-- Suncor Energy says the leak of an oily substance from a Colorado refinery has been contained. The substance was leaking into Sand Creek, which joins a river that provides Denver with water. Reuters: http://reut.rs/rL49VC.

-- It got a little rowdy Wednesday when the New York Department of Environmental Conservation held a public forum on fracking in Manhattan. New York Times: http://nyti.ms/uaLFP3.

-- British coal company Churchill Mining is taking the first steps to challenge Indonesia, as the company says it was illegally denied a multibillion dollar coal discovery in Borneo. Wall Street Journal: http://on.wsj.com/sJnQT6.

-- A123 Systems Inc., a Michigan-based lithium-ion battery supplier, is reportedly planning temporary layoffs of 125 employees because of a lack of demand from a major California customer. The company recently hired its 1,000th employee in Michigan. MLive: http://bit.ly/v6nkde.

-- The same state agencies responsible for regulating oil and gas drilling are also sometimes responsible for promoting it, reports Mike Soraghan of Greenwire: http://bit.ly/w3WiK5.

-- China’s economic rise and subsequent hunger for resources has been a boon for Australia’s economy, but inflation and other economic shocks have left some Australians out in the cold. Reuters: http://reut.rs/tvCJzk.

-- Oil was one of the few bright spots in Iran’s faltering economy, but now the sector is set to struggle in the face of heightened international sanctions. Bloomberg: http://bloom.bg/sgDbCQ.

THE RUNDOWN
9 a.m. — NRC staff meet with nuclear industry representatives today to discuss the agency’s implementation of all or part of five “Tier 1” post-Fukushima safety recommendations. The meeting will be held at NRC headquarters in Rockville, Md. Details: http://bit.ly/s30Vlj.

10 a.m. — Native American and First Nations leaders air their concerns about the Keystone XL pipeline, which they are calling a threat to public health, water quality and cultural preservation. National Press Club (Bloomberg Room).

10 a.m. — House Natural Resources holds a hearing on bills to amend the Magnuson-Stevens Act for fishery management. Barney Frank will testify, as will Eric Schwaab, assistant administrator of the National Marine Fisheries Service. Details: http://bit.ly/rOTuDM. 1324 Longworth.

1 p.m. — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration host a webinar to issue the 2011 version of the Arctic Report Card, which tracks the polar region’s changing environmental conditions. The report goes live later today here: http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/reportcard/

THAT’S ALL FOR ME, but before signing off, your host kindly offers video highlights from the Vikings’ most recent Super Bowl victory: http://bit.ly/uJpUe4.

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